FTP 101 – Part 8: Navigating with mkdir and cd

Published {$created} by Carsten Blum

When using FTP from the command line, knowing how to move around and create folders is essential.

Two basic commands help you do just that: cd and mkdir.

If you don't have an FTP account already, you can create an account with ftpGrid.

cd – Change directory on the server

Use the cd command to switch to another folder on the remote server.

Example:

cd /uploads

This moves you into the /uploads directory on the FTP server.

If the folder doesn’t exist, you’ll see an error like:

550 Failed to change directory.

mkdir – Create a new folder on the server

To make a new directory, use mkdir (short for "make directory").

Example:

mkdir reports

This creates a new folder called reports in the current remote directory.

To create a nested folder:

mkdir backups/2025

Some FTP servers allow this directly, others require you to create one level at a time.

Putting it together

A typical session might look like:

cd /uploads  
mkdir invoices  
cd invoices  
put january.pdf

This uploads january.pdf into /uploads/invoices.

Summary

Mastering these two simple commands gives you full control of where your files end up on the server. ftpGrid fully supports mkdir and deep folder hierarchies – including with SFTP, FTPS, and classic FTP.